Rennyo the Restorer . . .
by Kaneko Daiei
The Life of Rennyo
The great work Rennyo Shonin (1415-99) achieved during
his lifetime was the restoration of Shinshu. Through it he brought the
Shin teaching to the people, a mission he took on not only to bring
prosperity to the Honganji lineage, but also to have the spirit of the
Founder, Shinran Shonin (1173-1262), spread throughout the land. And it is
for this reason he is revered as the reincarnation of the Founder.
The reason he sought the revival of Shin goes back to an
episode in childhood. Born in 1415, Oe 22.2.25, during the reign of
Emperor Shoko, his father Zonnyo Shonin (1396-1457) was the seventh abbot
of the Honganji lineage. His mother, though, is unknown, and not even her
name is recorded. The Rennyo Shonin itoku-ki, or "A Record of Rennyo
Shonin's Achievements" says: "On the 8th day, twelfth month, Oe
27 [1420], his mother summoned him to her and divulged to the six-year-old
her fervent wish for his future: that he see to the revival of the lineage
[to which he was rightful heir]. This she conveyed in a way that left a
firm impression on him. Shortly after this, she left the temple and was
never heard from again." Those words of instruction etched into the
heart of the child later became the source of inspiration for the great
work he would achieve in his lifetime.
It was not until he was fifteen that Rennyo first
grasped the significance of his mother's words. The Itoku-ki says:
"It was in his fifteenth year that he first took the revival of Shin
to heart. It grieved him to think of how past generations had let the
teaching waste away, and his thoughts dwelt constantly on how he would in
his lifetime bring the distinctive lineage of the Founder to the attention
of people everywhere and thus revive the school." What first fueled
his thoughts was the dire straits the Honganji had fallen.
In a world gone mad under Ashikaga rule, a period when
Buddhism held no sway among religions in general, it was not surprising
that the fortunes of the Honganji had declined. To make matters worse,
from the time of the third abbot Kakunyo (1270-1351) the school seems to
have lost the call and fossilized around rituals; the tradition slowly
began to deteriorate. Seeing these things with his own eyes, Rennyo became
acutely aware of the immense task that lay before him. The years of
religious study were fraught with difficulties for Rennyo.
First and foremost he had to eke out an existence for
himself. The Rennyo shonin go-ichidai kikigaki, or A Record of Rennyo's
Life," says there were times "the dinner service did not make
the rounds for two or three days." "the only thing we had to eat
were scraps of paper" "we had to pack up the children to the
countryside [where they could get fed]."; Indeed, "many a sad
story was woven out of these dire circumstances."
The life he led had
little to celebrate. For him to pursue studies "so as not to waste
lamp oil I devised a routine whereby I'd wait till dawn when the black
hills of the city would at last be outlined in light before I'd take up
the sacred teachings to read; at other times I'd wait till the moonlight
was bright enough before I'd delight in the scriptures." Truly it was
through burning the midnight oil* that he achieved what he did. The second
difficulty he faced was the lack of a proper teacher.
Ever since his
seventeenth year when he was ordained, he had the desire to study.
Teachers were available from other lineages, but the problem was there was
none who could instruct him in the fine points of Shin doctrine, and so he
had to educate himself. He read the Kyogyoshinsho diligently, thumbing
through it so often he managed jto rub a hole in the cover, and tried to
understand its meaning by going through the explanations set down by
Kakunyo and others as well as the various sacred teachings.
Third among
his difficulties was the immediate circumstances [of the Honganji]. The
Itoku-ki says: "At that time, only a few understood the
distinctiveness of our lineage and there was only a vague sense of it
being different from those of other establishments and schools. As a
result, [it made him] always uneasy around people and inclined to shun the
world. Even when reading through the sacred teachings, he would do so
furtively, away from the prying eyes of others; at times, just to examine
a few pages, he would use the lantern light spilling through a crack in
the wall; at other times, on clear nights when the moon had ascended the
blue expanse of sky, he would pull a manuscript [from his sleeve] and
apply himself to the master's commentary."
We can gather from this account that Rennyo's education
[in Shin doctrine] took place away from the eyes of others. It is
sometimes said he took this course of action to avoid conflict with the
ways and doctrines of other sects and lineages, but his actions can well
be explained in large part by his complicated domestic situation. In these
trying circumstances he underwent spiritual training and sought to live a
religious life; turning his thoughts inward, as a matter of course he
arrived at an understanding of the awakening of faith that tariki brings
about (tariki shinjin); directing his thoughts to the external world, he
realized that the fundamental cause for the breakdown of the [Shin]
tradition was its failure to spread its doctrine of the path of religious
life.
What seems to have driven this awareness home was his
first tours of the northern and eastern regions. In Bunnan 4.5 (1447),
Rennyo, then in his 33rd year, went to the Kanto (eastern) area, and in
Hotoku 1 (1449), to the Hokuriku (northern) area. The purpose of these
journeys was of course propagation, combined with a pilgrimage to sites
sacred to the memory of Shinran. But what Rennyo discovered with his own
eyes and ears was that the followers were largely ignorant of the
Founder's basic message; instead, mistaken interpretations and
superstitions had grown rampant, these to an alarming degree.
As the
lifeblood of a religion lies in the beliefs it inculcates in its
followers---beliefs that keep them from taking up evil paths---the problem
of how to put the tradition back on its feet again thus became a pressing
concern for Rennyo. And so with the wish to restore the Shin tradition
back to life, he came into the cause he would end up devoting his entire
life. Now, to compare Rennyo with Kakunyo, Kakunyo's contribution was the
clarification of the Shin doctrinal principles vis-a-vis the Jodo-shu, the
Pure Land Buddhist sect founded by Honen (1133-1212).
By contrast, Rennyo addressed the ordinary beliefs
people held in those days. It was from this dimension that he was able to
achieve his great work of propagating the Shin teaching. The kind of
people Rennyo focused on were the ones who had suffered the misfortune of
being displaced by the wars that ravaged the land and had no homes to
return. And so when Rennyo speaks of the impermanence of human life as he
often does in his Ofumi, or "Letters"; this is not merely the
rhetoric of Buddhist propagation. He was speaking to people who lived in a
world of constant danger; one skirmish with a raiding party could turn the
scene into a battlefield seething with warriors; for those who greeted the
dawn, indeed, there was no guarantee they would survive till the the end
of the day.
The sentiments Rennyo expressed in his letters were thus
directed to those who found themselves in this critical situation. To
these people who had nowhere to turn, Rennyo instructed them to take to
heart the promise of Amida's Vow; it was in this way he imparted them the
courage to endure. In Choroku 1 (1457), Rennyo, in his 43rd year,
succeeded to the eighth abbotship of the Honganji lineage after the demise
of his father. Rennyo's stepmother opted to have her own son Ogen
(1433-1503) assume the abbotship, but Rennyo's uncle Shomitsu-in Sen'yu
(1412-1460) interceded and, making a decision he felt clearly reflected
the wishes of the deceased, appointed Rennyo the next abbot.
After this,
Rennyo was in an even better position to devote himself to the restoration
of Shin. The magnitude of the project being what it was, it is only to be
expected he would meet with stiff opposition from other schools and
lineages. The persecutions and at times outright confrontations this
brought on involved Rennyo in one struggle after another, with the result
there was nowhere he could take haven permanently, and throughout his life
he was forced to move constantly from place to place.
His life may thus be
divided into the following periods: 1465, the burning of the Honganji;
1471, the building of Yoshizaki; 1475, the propagation in Settsu and
Kanai; 1480, the main temple at Yamashina; and 1496, the establishment of
Osaka. The burning of the Otani Honganji took place in Kansho 6.1 (1465),
when Rennyo was in his 51st year. This deed was effected by monastics on
Mount Hiei who justified the attack on the grounds that the Shin followers
of the Mugeko-ryu, or Unimpeded Light lineage, had, they claimed, spoken
disparagingly of the various dharma teachings and schools, and had
belittled other gods and buddhas by their words and deeds.
The monastics
singled out the Honganji as the gathering place of these dissidents and so
they vented their anger on them in this way. But the monastics had other,
more palpable reasons to find displeasure with this Pure Land school.
Rennyo had emerged as a powerful contender by successfully proselytizing
the Kinai. This was highlighted by his conducting a large scale memorial
service for Shinran on the 200th anniversary of his death in Kansho 2
(1461).
It was this event combined with other factors that
caused resentment on Mount Hiei, and so precipitated the viol! ence. The
loss of the Honganji in Kyoto forced Rennyo to move to Otsu in neighboring
Omi province (present Shiga prefecture). The move is significant, for the
province is where Rennyo would establish his first group of loyal
followers among the people of Kanegamori, and it was here that he first
began to develop his particular style of propagation.
In Onin 2 (1468), in
his 54th year, he made a combined tour of the eastern and northern
regions, returning the following year to Otsu, where he began construction
of the Kensho-ji, a temple south of Miidera that would house a treasured
statue of Shinran. In a Letter he writes: "There shall be no
disparaging the various dharma teachings and schools. All of them are the
Buddha's exposition, and as long as a person practices in accordance with
them, there is sure to be benefit" (see Rogers & Rogers, p. 176).
Here, taking a lesson from the destruction of the
Honganji, Rennyo seeks to admonish any undisciplined elements among his
following. The establishment of Yoshizaki took place in Bunmei 3 (1471),
when Rennyo was in his 57th year. In his Letters he writes: Around the
beginning of the fourth month of the third year of Bunmei, I just slipped
away, without any settled plan, from our place near Miidera's southern
branch temple at Otsu, in the Shiga district of Omi province, and
travelled through various parts of Echizen and Kaga.
Then, as this site -- Yoshizaki,
in the Hosorogi district of [Echizen] province -- was particularly appealing, we made a clearing on the mountain, which for many years had
been the habitat of wild beasts, and beginning on the 27th day of the
seventh month, we put up a building that might be called a temple. With
the passage of time from yesterday to today and so on, three years have
elapsed with the seasonal changes" (Rogers and Rogers, pp. 71, 157;
slightly adapted). This letter alludes to the fact that, after the
destruction of the Otani Honganji, Rennyo went into seclusion for a period
in Omi province, but that continued pressure by monastics on Mount Hiei
forced his move to the northern regions. When the bosha, or priest's
quarters, were being built in Yoshizaki, Rennyo's propagation activities
in Echizen, Kaga and Etchu attracted crowds of followers.
The work at Yoshizaki was speeded along by the deep
alliance Rennyo made with military governor Asakura Toshikage, who took
advantage of the mountainous terrain of the site to make it strategically
sound. The four years that Rennyo spent at Yoshizaki were significant, for
during that time he laid the groundwork for the Shin religion in the
Hokuriku area that prospers to this day. The years he lived and
proselytized in Yoshizaki were not without complications.
It was within
the sphere of influence of the heterodox teachings such as the hitsuji
bomon, or secret teachings, flourishing in nearby Echizen. Moreover, the
followers of the Takada-ha, one of the ten denominations of Shin, had an
ongoing feud with those belonging to the Honganji, and there were rabble-rousers
who sought to work it to their political advantage. Monastic
centers of other schools and traditions such as the Hyosen-ji and Hogen-ji,
which functioned as mini-Mount Hieis [as far as wielding secular power].
Rennyo stood in the midst of all this.
To defuse the situation, he set
down regulations that were to be followed religiously by his followers: he
admonished them, while speaking out against heterodoxies within Shin, not
to speak disparagingly of the various other schools; he cautioned them not
to draw undue attention to themselves; for a period he even forbid
assemblies at Yoshizaki, saying this was a place of religious practice,
not a place to jockey for political advantage. Even in his Letters, this
would be the period when he produced the most; that is, the forty items in
his Letters from I.1 to IV.10 were all written during this four-year
period.
In these letters Rennyo set down okite, or regulations,
which prescribed how followers were to behave with regard to other sects
and in society; in them he also set down explanations of the true meaning
of the Shin doctrine in terms followers could relate to. In Bunmei 5
(1473) he issued a woodblock edition of Shinran's Shoshinge and Sanjo
wasan, a significant event as it set the form for the services Shin
followers would conduct morning and evening from that time on. However, in
the following year, Bunmei 6.3.28 (1474), at six p.m., a fire broke out at
lodgings near the south gate that grew out of control and eventually
burned down the entire Yoshizaki complex.
The story of how Honko-bo Ryoken
gave his life to save the copy of Shinran's manuscript goes back to this
time. The following month, Rennyo moved into temporary quarters, and then
went on a pilgrimage to nearby provinces, before returning to Yoshizaki
once again. When military governor Togashi and Shimotsuma Hogen fanned the
ongoing feud between Takada-ha and Honganji followers into a disturbance,
Rennyo gave up all plans to rebuild at Yoshizaki, and in Bunmei 7.8 (1475)
left it for good. It was an inevitable decision.
Leaving Yoshizaki, he took a skiff to Obama, in Wakasa
province, and then by way of Tamba and Settsu entered into Kawachi
province, where he began construction of the Kozen-ji temple at Deguchi in
Matsuda ward. After this, for the next two or three years he sojourned in
Settsu, Kawachi, and Izumi, building temples and preaching. Among the
temples he established are: Kozen-ji, Deguchi, Kawachi province,
installing Kojun (1474-1497) as resident minister; Kyogyo-ji; Shinsho-in,*
Kai-no-ura, Izumi, with Shinsho-ji Joson as resident minister. While he
built temples and preached wherever he went, he never failed to appoint
someone to the stewardship of the temple -- a shrewd policy on the part of
Rennyo.
In Bunmei 9.10 (1477), the good people of Kanegamori proposed the
main temple be built at Yamashina, in the Uji ward of Yamashiro province.
At the beginning of the following year, Rennyo went to inspect the site
and agreed to the plan. Building a thatched hut and other provisional
living quarters, the building work was begun in Bunmei 11 (1479) and
continued until 12.8, when the Founder's Hall was completed. Next, the
Main Hall was begun, and finished in Bunmei 14 (1482).
And so it was not until eighteen years after the
destruction of the Otani Honganji that Rennyo at last was able to rebuild
the main temple. It is recorded that the Main Hall was 3-gen square and
the Image Hall was 5-gen square. One can well imagine the joy Rennyo and
his disciples felt when the halls were finally built. In another sense, we
could also say that he had laid the groundwork for these halls by his 18
years of roving and preaching. Having earlier handed over the
responsibilities for the temple to his eldest son Junnyo (1442-1483) in
Onin 2 (1468), with the latter's death in 1483 Rennyo was obliged to
resume the ministership of the temple once again.
In Entoku 1 (1489),
Rennyo, in his 75th year, handed over the ministership to his eighth
child, Jitsunyo (1458-1525), and himself opted for retirement under the
name Shinsho-in. At that time he wrote: "As for me, at last I can
retire from this world, and now I shall immerse myself leisurely in
samadhi on Buddha-dharma." In Meio 5.9 (1496), when Rennyo was in his
82nd year, the bosha, or priest's quarters, at Osaka in Settsu province
were begun, and late in life he let himself be moved there.
Around the
summer of Meio 7 (1498), however, he began to feel ill, and sensing the
time had come when he would never rise again from bed, he urged others to
realize their faith, saying, "All I long for, morning and evening, is
that there will be a decisive settling of faith for everyone while I am
still alive. Although this does indeed depend on good from the past, there
is never a moment when it is not on my mind" (Rogers & Rogers,
240). In Meio 8.2 (1499) he returned to Yamashina. Though gravely ill, he
spoke to his family and disciples, urging them to always remember their
gratitude to the Buddha and the Founder, and to be respectful of those
unknown forces in life. Then on the 25th day of the third month he passed
from this world.
For his words and deeds see the Rennyo Shonin goichidai
kikigaki sho [A Record of Rennyo's Life], and for an account of his
achievements the Rennyo Shonin itoku-ki. The former was recorded by his
son Rengo (1468-1543) and his disciple Kuzen and others, and compiled by
his son Jitsugo (1492-1584). The latter is a selection made by Rengo and
recorded by Jitsugo. For those interested in Rennyo, these two works are a
must.
Translated by W. S. Yokoyama
* This is a draft
translation of the first section of Kaneko Daiei, "Renshi no chuko",
the eighth chapter of his Shinshu no kyogi to sono rekishi [Shin Doctrine
and Its History; 1915]; compiled in his Collected Works, supplementary
volume 3, pp. 311-17.
